UPDATED: Hurricanes blow past Warriors in second half

The Hawai’i basketball team will have to rewrite its Christmas wish list as a result of a 73-58 loss to Miami (FL) on the opening night of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.

The best the Warriors can do now in the eight-team tournament is to win the consolation title, which they have done each of the past two years.

Hawai’i will play East Tennessee State in a consolation game on Sunday at 4 p.m. (see full schedule below).

For one half, the Warriors looked like they could withstand the force of the Hurricanes, but the second half turned into a different story. Miami opened the second half with a 14-3 run to break open what was a close game in the first half.

“That was a team that may be the biggest team we’ll ever play this year,” Hawai’i head coach Gib Arnold said. “We did some nice things, I felt, with changing defenses and kind of caught them off guard, especially in that first half. I thought our guys played with a lot of heart, but those bodies kind of wore us down in that second half.”

A season-high crowd of 8,210 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the Warriors drop to 5-4 with their biggest margin of loss this season. The Hurricanes improved to 8-1 with their seventh consecutive victory.

Several of the Hawai’i starters struggled, but the bench responded with 33 of the team’s 58 points. Redshirt freshman Brandon Jawato led the way with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.

“Honestly, I thought we came out playing kind of scared,” Jawato said. “We didn’t come out with the intensity on both sides, on offense and defense.”

Jawato, who did not score a single point in the team’s first seven games of this season, has scored 22 points off the bench in the last two games. He was the only Hawai’i player to reach double-figure points against the Hurricanes.

Fellow reserve Davis Rozitis contributed eight points on 4-for-4 shooting from the field, including three dunks.

“I think the first half when we couldn’t hit our shots, then second half we were a little scared that we would keep missing,” Rozitis said. “But we just have to keep shooting and keep screening to get our teammates open and anything can happen.”

Senior center Vander Joaquim finished with nine points and seven rebounds. Junior forward Christian Standhardinger, who entered the game averaging team-highs of 17.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, finished with seven points and five boards.

“The game plan going in was we wanted to try to get to their legs and try to rebound and run,” Arnold said. “When we can do that, we’re pretty good. They traditionally don’t play a lot of guys, so we figured that could be to our advantage if we could go to our bench … but they didn’t tire. Those guys were able to play big minutes, and it didn’t seem to affect them. Those guys are high-level athletes. It was pretty impressive to see those guys play that hard for that long.”

Durand Scott, a 6-foot-5 wing, scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half to lead Miami. He went 4 of 5 from 3-point range in the second half, including three 3s during a two-minute stretch early in the second half that broke the game open.

“I’ve watched every single one of their games this year and I’ve never seen him shoot it even close like that where he’s hitting it from 25 feet and out,” Arnold said. “Give him credit, I thought he stepped up and had a big game when they were struggling a little bit offensively and I thought our defensive schemes were pretty good.”

The Warriors actually had a 21-19 lead late in the first half, but the Hurricanes eventually took a 22-21 lead into the locker room at halftime. Miami then scored the first six points of the second half and quickly pulled away from the Warriors.

The Hurricanes’ 14-3 surge to open the second half gave them a 36-24 lead, and the Warriors never challenged after that. Miami led by as many as 25 points before the reserves for both teams finished the game.

Hawai’i shot just 28.6 percent from the field in the first half, and 40.0 percent for the game. Miami shot 48.2 percent from the field for the game – the best by a Hawaii opponent this year – including 63.0 percent in the decisive second half.

Miami played without starting center Reggie Johnson, who injured his thumb in practice during the week. His replacement in the starting lineup was 6-10 senior Julian Gamble, and he finished with the best game of his career with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

Hawai’i senior point guard Jace Tavita did not start due to disciplinary reasons, but he played 24 minutes and contributed four assists.

Six of the eight teams for the 2013 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic have been named: Hawai’i, George Mason, Iowa State, Oregon State, Saint Mary’s and South Carolina. Two more teams are needed to complete the field.

16 Comments

This team needs to stop acting timid and play aggressive. A lot of the leadership on this team has disappeared during games. Where is Hauns lately? The upperclassmen who are supposed to carry this team hasn’t been doing much. The freshmen are literally outplaying them lately. Jawato should start he goes hard like Standhardinger. Fotu has already proven he needs to stay in the lineup. Davis should get more minutes because although his game isn’t polished he can disrupt and do things with his length others can’t. Honestly, I would like to see Hauns get the green light to let loose instead of focusing so much on Vander getting the ball. There seems to be hardly any outside game anymore besides an occasional 3. Hauns is a shooter and needs to light it up again.

Since the Big West will be smaller than us primarily, we probably wonʻt be playing much man, in which case we better be pretty damn good at zones, and weʻre not. No reason we should not defend the three better. If Iʻm an upcoming UH opponent, Iʻm licking my chops looking at all the sloppy rotations, open three chances and overall lack of urgency defensively.
Once that gets fixed, our size can start taking over.
Letʻs see how we respond today.

Hauns, you can still do, it..he is not the create your own shot scorer.,,kick out to his spot up 3 or behind screen, if he relaxes, he can hit..Roop should play more PG..and Jace has to really, really protect the ball, and be confident to hit an open 3 under when they need offense, and teams are collapsing on the bigs..that Miami team is a very very very good team ..hope they make it into top 25, perhaps today or tomorrow!

Go Warriors, get this win against a very athletic(here we go again!..like BWC teams)with a great scoring guard..And Gib and staff, draww it up and guys go out and execute, be agressive, this is your house SSC..whether, you are playing a #4 in the land team or #104, play all out, and go for it on D, even if you get shot blocked, go back up or kick out..and keep working..you guys will be okay, however, have to improve!!

Go get that 2-1 record and the 5th place trophy would be huge momentum into the BWC first game at the SSC next Sat Dec 29 2012.

Just the facts. Miami starting backcourt, 32 points. Hawaii guards total, 20 points. Jawato, 12′ Spearman, 5′ Clair, 3, Tavita, 0′ Jefferson, 0. Arnold is going is have some soul searching. Based on performance last night, the 5 that played the best were Jawato, Joaquin, Rozitis, Pavlovian, and Clair and I’ll tell you why.

think Jawato and Harper are in the same mold but Jaws got a year under his belt as a rs frosh in Coach’s system.

Clair plays fast, just needs to learn where his team mates are to break the double d on him to break the press. Gotta find that open player and I think he’d do well, he brings that added dimension of a scoring threat at the pg position. As it is right now, Jace is a known quantity, he’s with the assists, GF has more driving ability but is no outside threat. Think Clair got more to over at the pg position than jace or jefferson

think jawato and harper are in the same mold but jaws got a year under his belt as a rs frosh in Coach’s system.

Clair plays fast, just needs to learn where his open team mates are for the pass to break the double d and press on him and once he learns that he’ll do okay. As it is right now, Jace is a known quantity, good assists but barely brings other facets of a pg to his game. GJ has more ability to attack and drive to the basket but is no outside threat. My bottom line is that Clair has more to offer at the pg position than jace or jefferson.

Derek: concise simple assessment, whomever is producing NOW….this game against ETSU and potential Ole Miss or SF..huge…whether you start a brand new five, and new first 4 off the bench…Gib has to go for it..That Miami game, is a puzzle, that first half, anyone’s game, neither team could shoot well, both play D..then, a turnover here, not boxing out, grabbing rebounds, allowing offensive boards by Gamble..

I bet Gib opens it up, he not type to give up on upperclassmen, however, he gotta try the best effort and productive O and D guys on the court, build a lead, and then blend in guys, frosh or senior, to close out..

These next two games, portend what will happen in BWC..HUGE..

Warriors, this WI nation, we want you guys to win, relax, CLEAR..(Miami loss) and GO…next up ETSU, a very athletic, team..

Vander’s leg is slowing him down.
That’s why Rozitis getting more playing time, plus doing well.
Gib has no choice; he has to use Clair—desperately needs outside shooting.
Gib needs to ride the only hot hand in Jawato.
Harper should get a shot too.
Mix veterans with freshmen.
And why wasn’t Pavlovic used last night?
When no one shooting need to find someone that can.
Brereton and Spearman will have their day but last night was not it.
The way how it looks if you miss your first shot beyond the arc pull them already.

Gib, good change up…Jawato and Roop started and played well..matchups, against ETSU, it worked well, now, Roop has to continue to get stronger, and settle down, and hit FT’s, he will help as a shooting PG..Jace, the physical facillitator, and Gee Jefferson the D stopper..